[2397] in Humor
Re: Believe it or not
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Tim Showalter)
Thu Jul 30 17:25:14 1998
Date: 30 Jul 1998 17:13:42 -0400
From: Tim Showalter <tjs+@andrew.cmu.edu>
To: niichavo@MIT.EDU, humor@MIT.EDU
In-Reply-To: <85256651.00719102.00@notes.teradyne.com>
> From: "Mikhail Khusid" <Mikhail_Khusid@notes.teradyne.com>
> Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1998 16:50:11 -0400
>
> API - Time Magazine reports an interesting case of high-tech
> graffiti. It seems that a couple of Intel engineers working
> on the design of a recent version of the Pentium microprocessor
> included a message that describes their feelings about Bill Gates,
> president of Microsoft, a good corporate pal of Intel's.
>
> When a portion of the Pentium chip is examined under a powerful
> scanning electron microscope, the phrase "bill sux" is clearly
> visible, etched into the surface of the chip.
> The "flaw" in the chip was only discovered by accident well after
> the chip was released into the market, too late for Intel to
> prevent the chip from being used in the manufacture of tens ofthousands of PCs.
> Intel says that both engineers responsible were former employees
> of Motorola, makers of the chips that are the heart of the AppleMacintosh.
> Both engineers have since been fired by Intel.
> Full picture on http://www.idt.mdh.se/kpt/billsux.jpg
... From the You Can't Believe Everything You Read Dept.:
http://www.amazon.com/covers/0/69/102/125/0691021252.l.gif
Comments from an Intel employee on the picture (before the amazon.com link
was found):
As an ex-intel employee who spent years looking at chips through an electron
microscope, let me offer my criticism.
This is cropped jpg of a SEM micrograph, I cant detect the typical
distortion near the edges, and there is usually some type of scale marker
overlayed near the top or bottom edge.
The chip is not a commercially available version, because there is no
passivation layer (SiO2) protecting the top metal layer. It also doesnt show
any signs of having the passivation etched off with plasma. Chips with no
passiv never get out the door, they tend to die within weeks of manufacture.
This is probably originally a fab QA shot.
The interconnects at the edges of each letter are very suspicious.
Especially on the SU, which are over a metal 1 layer power line. Placing
intercons in the middle of a power line is a design rule violation due to
metal migration around the holes. Note the other power intercons are placed
at the edges where migration is not as much a problem. If this was on the
mask, a Design Rule Checker would have flagged it.
The intercons of bill seem to be over some active circuitry, which would
also raise DRC flags (unless they were part of the circuit). Notice that the
b does not seem to have the ridges like the line above it, but the
resolution is a bit lacking.
The resolution leaves room for lots of error, but in my opinion this is
probably a photoshop/gimp job.
I've got emails out already to intel people, and will post the
confirmations/denials as they come in.
I havent heard anything of this as of 2 weekends ago, but it wouldnt
surprise me. I have my name on 286 B1-B3 steps. My initials are on many 386
production models, and on some early 486s, and many other non-cpu chips.
There was a crackdown a few years ago, and the messages are now much better
hidden and more elaborate. If I can remember where I put some of my old
pics, I'll scan them in and show you what real messages look like.
[I don't have the identity of this Intel engineer, but somehow I know
we'll hear more.]
